A file photo of Joe Martens, commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, testifying before a joint budget hearing on the environment last week in Albany.

Written by

Jon Campbell
| Albany Bureau

The state's top health regulator on Tuesday signaled that he would need more time to complete his review of large-scale hydraulic fracturing, but the head of the Department of Environmental Conservation says it may not delay a decision on fracking for long.

State Health Commissioner Nirav Shah wrote in a letter Tuesday that his review of the health impacts of fracking will "require additional time to complete based on the complexity of the issues."

With Shah's review still incomplete, the DEC will not be able to issue a dense, lengthy environmental impact statement on Wednesday - a ...